Torana guru and Pro Street legend Mark Hayes unveiled his

STORY IAIN KELLY PHOTOS CHRIS THOROGOOD
Torana guru and Pro Street legend Mark Hayes
unveiled his new LC at Summernats 28
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ARCHERY
The wheelarches have been lengthened
nearly nine inches to clear the huge 33x15
M/T slicks, but they’ve kept the factory
lines and profile by adding sections of
sheet metal behind the tub on the boot
floor. “I didn’t want a rubber trap in
there,” Mark says. “It is a race car so it
needs to be serviceable”
INTERIOR
“It might sound a bit weird but I wanted
the car to have a proper grille, door
handles and dash, so it has the character
of an LC Torana in a full drag car,” Mark
says. The rollcage is an intricate piece
of work that blends engineering and
aesthetic considerations. Mark made
the trans tunnel from rolled aluminium,
before wrapping it in high-quality
carbonfibre wrap that matches the weave
pattern of the real carbon used in the car
PAINTWORK
“I can’t be happier with Jason and Glenn
from Exclusive Customs who painted the
car. They did exactly what they said; the
car looks fantastic. They even came to my
house to polish it and then again down
here for the unveil!”
M
ARK Hayes is a bona fide
Aussie street machining
legend. For more than two
decades his true streetlegal big-block LC Torana,
LC4540, has been one of the
fastest genuine street cars in
Australia, running in the sevens.
But the LC Torrie Mark unveiled at Summernats
28 is a totally different beast, with a focus on going
deep into the six-second bracket.
“The need to go faster created this car. It’s come
from 20 years of racing my other car, and what
that car could and couldn’t do,” the Sydneysider
hours of hard work – Mark built the car himself
in his shed, with the LC only leaving to have the
rollcage installed and the paint applied.
“The car went to Joe Gauci at Profab Motorsport
Fabrications for the rollcage, which was done in
only two weeks,” Mark says. “Apart from that, and
the paint, the car was done entirely in-house. I also
had a bit of help with some aluminium welding,
and I borrowed a friend’s machine to bend up
my wing.”
The build began with a sad but solid grandmaspec LC Mark found next to a house in Pennant
Hills, eight years ago. “I bought it because it was
a good car, and then stored it at a friend’s garage
“Rob Godfrey (of TOYTON fame) came to my
house every Tuesday night for 18 months and we
got it straight; we lengthened the rear quarters, we
hung the doors, we filled the front scuttle where
the wipers used to be and we made fill panels and
patches. I also cut the boot in half and welded it
in, fitted the door locks and tucked the bumpers.
“We spent a lot of time on it and that’s why it is
as straight as it is, and looks so good. We used
old-school oxy-welding techniques, and slapping
and filing to get the car where we wanted it to be.”
Mark says the reason behind using the oxy
comes down to heat management and the need to
spend time finishing the panels. “MIG welding is
Rob Godfrey and I worked every Tuesday night for 18 months to get it straight
says. “There are certain limitations when you
build a street-registered race car, so I built a car
that is drag-specific but looks a bit like a street
car. I wanted a car that was of Elite standard in
appearance, but serviceable and would be able
to run as fast as my budget and knowledge could
take me.”
LC763 nails the Elite brief with stunning success.
The car is dripping in high-quality details, from
the glass-like PPG Crystal Bay Blue paint to the
rounded corner of the reverse cowl scoop as it
joins the bonnet.
Naturally, this quality result comes from of many
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STREET MACHINE
until March 2009, when I started the build,” Mark
says. “It had a little bit of rust in it but it was in
reasonable condition.”
Amazingly, while you might expect the shell to
be made of exotic lightweight material it’s actually
all steel, except for the bonnet, shortened boot-lid
and bumpers. Even the custom smoothed innerguards and front chassis rails are all metal.
All this work required serious fabrication. “The
car was put on a jig, so the sills and rear quarters
on both sides were welded to a chassis jig, and
everything from the windscreen to the back
bumper was cut out of the car,” Mark explains.
good, and a lot of people use it to get great results,
but the amount of work we needed to do on those
rear quarters to lengthen them nine inches and still
flow meant we needed to work those panels. By
oxy-welding them it means they’re still workable
as there is no hardness from the MIG. The results
speak for themselves; I’m blown away.
“The colour has brought the car out and shown
every bit of work we put in behind the scenes. It is
a new PPG product which actually has crushed
glass in it, giving a uniform metallic-style effect.”
The rear guards aren’t the typical sort found on
a tubbed-to-the-max Torrie. Mark and Rob were
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MOUNTAIN MADNESS
THE centrepiece of the LC has to be the
gigantic 2275hp big-block spilling out
of the engine bay. Mark wasn’t shy with
details: “I have told the truth because I
found people don’t believe you anyway so
you may as well be honest.”
So here is the skinny on an amazing,
massive motor.
CARB DIET
THE 12.5-litre giant is topped with twin
Holley 1250 Dominator carburettors
sitting on top of a fabricated manifold that
features huge billet runners. The 750hp
three-stage nitrous system hadn’t finished
being plumbed yet for the Summernats
reveal, but Mark says it will be done by the
time you’re reading this.
careful to maintain the lines and flow of the original
guard shape by welding in carefully sectioned
pieces of fill plate to the floor and arch behind the
tubs, maintaining the original curve of the panel
and providing maximum clearance for the gigantic
Mickey Thompson slicks. They then brought the
beaver panel in, extending it and wrapping it
downwards into the boot floor, under two gigantic
nitrous bottles.
a 2013 Chevy Camaro aero package onto a
1971 Torana.”
That aero work is definitely going to get tested
to the limit thanks to 12.5 litres of Brodix bigblock rising menacingly out of the engine bay. The
763-cube motor makes 2275hp in total; 1525hp
naturally aspirated with 750hp up its sleeve
thanks to a three-stage nitrous system.
Such a set-up shouldn’t surprise anyone familiar
HEAD KICKER
FLUID DYNAMICS
THE cylinder heads are gigantic Brodix
15-degree units, stuffed with high-quality
valvetrain components like titanium valves,
Smith Brothers pushrods, PSI valve springs
and Jesel lifters.
A MOROSO sump and oil pump combo
handles the oil while the AFCO dual-pass
radiator attempts to keep the giant mill
cool. It runs on a diet of VP race fuel
supplied by a MagnaFuel 500 pump.
BLOCK SHOT
RADIATOR
THE Brodix 763-cube big-block runs a fiveinch bore space like many of America’s top
drag machines. It’s been filled with Arias
pistons, Clevite bearings, a Callies crank
and Bill Miller conrods. Mark specced his
own 60mm Bullet cam.
“THIS is a half-fill aluminium block, so
it has been designed as a race motor.
There’s still three-inches of water jacket
around the top for cooling, but the block is
fatter around the core to allow more water
to get through,” Mark says.
value five-inch bore space combo. I bought the
manifold, block, crank, heads and rods from the
USA as a kit. It still needed to be machined here
in Australia to my specs, and I used my own
camshaft and rocker set-up that I designed.
“The five-inch bore is important as the external
dimensions of this engine are the same as a regular
454, but there is a lot more internal capacity. And I
can put my 632 straight into this car to make it run
The two main things to get right on a race car are the wing and the windows
However, Mark says this wasn’t the hardest job
on the car. “Trying to incorporate late-model aero
onto an early-model car can be tricky, without it
looking tacky or gaudy,” he sighs. “Trying to get it
to blend in is another thing. I had to get the wing to
flow with the body lines and also have adjustable
wickerbill (also known as a Gurney flap) and spill
plates. Those folds in the spill plate are to match
the body line on the car.
“The two main things to get right on a race car
are the wing and the windows. If the wing and
the windows look crap the car looks rubbish, so I
spent a lot of time getting the wing and windows
right to make it look just like you transferred
with Mark’s other LC, given he has run a nitrous
big-block for decades. “I love nitrous engines.
I’m not against turbo or supercharged engines,
they’re great, but I like nitrous motors. What I know
about nitrous engines is that you can only make
a certain amount of power per cube. Having the
ability to make over 2000hp with a five-inch bore
space was a primary goal and to do that I simply
needed a bigger engine, so I built the biggest
engine I could afford to at 763 ci.
“The turbo and supercharged cars have power
to burn, nitrous cars don’t. We have to get our
power on early and down low, so having a big
engine helps. I shopped around to find the best
in different classes.”
It’s backed by a Coan bolt-together torque
converter, Reid Super Hydro 400 bellhousing and
a Protrans-built two-speed Turbo 400 trans. Mark
explains the two main reasons for the Turbo 400
trans choice over a Powerglide.
“Strength is a factor for going the two-speed
Turbo 400. In this type of car a Powerglide can
be every bit as strong, but a two-speed Turbo 400
offers a much wider choice of ratios. LC763 has a
fairly long first gear so you can get a lot of power
in early without knocking the tyres off.”
The drivetrain is rounded out with a 3.5-inch
moly tailshaft and 9.5-inch full-floating diff by
REAR GUARDS
“Tyre shake can be very brutal on a
car,” Mark says. “With modern ignition
and the ramping of timing and power
management I hope it won’t be an issue.
I just have to learn as I go. I set it up with
the guards a little longer than they need
to be just so the tyre can’t grab an edge”
ENGINE
“I wanted this car to be serviceable so it’s
quite a simple engine to get out. This car
is set up very similarly to my other car.
Once you take the exhaust and starter
motor off the motor comes straight
out. By myself I’d have that motor out
in under two hours, and that’s without
scratching anything”
THANKS
Protrans; Profab; Exclusive Customs;
PPG; Aeroflow. Special thanks to Rob
Godfrey for coming to my shed every
Tuesday for 18 months to do body work,
and especially my wife Dina for allowing
me time and money to build this car. My
three-year-old boy William loves coming
to the shed to help Dad
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LIGHT TOUCH
Simple parts of the car are dripping
in custom touches. The back of the
towering cowl scoop has been radiused
to suit the curve of the trailing edge
of the bonnet, as well as the custom
plenum that Mark and Rob recreated
from sheet steel, with the factory curve.
Both made out of fibreglass, the custom
bootlid and bonnet are fitted with neat
push-lock release buttons in a matching
blue to the PPG paint. Along with the
bumpers they’re the only fibreglass
panels on the car
I haven’t raced since 2009, when I won the
Streetcar Superstars event
MARK HAYES
1971 HOLDEN TORANA
Colour: PPG Crystal Bay Blue
DONK
Strange, who also supplied Mark the disc brakes
and dual-adjustable rear coil-overs and front struts.
Inside the car blends familiar touches of street and
track, just how Mark likes it. “I wanted the car to have
the character of a Torana, so while it’s an LC I like LJ
dashes better; it’s a flatter, less bumpy style,” he says,
before explaining the work involved to neaten the rest
of the cabin. “I’ve moved the dash back 220mm and
incorporated that into the car with a carbon panel
and steel sides that fit around the rollcage.
“All my electrical components are behind the dash,
including my MSD Powergrid, my battery and my
Racepak. You won’t see any wiring or switch boxes
in the car, no relays; everything is behind the dash,
which can be removed with just six bolts, leaving the
whole wiring harness serviceable.”
As with the rest of the car, Mark dove in and did
almost all the hard work. “The carbon tubs are offthe-shelf items from Jerry Bickel in the USA – bought
here in Oz from their agent – and are trimmed to fit,
but the rest of the carbon work was done by me. It’s
just like plywood; you buy a sheet and cut it to fit
using rivets or Nutserts to secure it. It’s fairly flexible
so it can fit around the legs of the rollcage.”
While it sounds like everything came together
smoothly, that isn’t true. Mark struggled with the
same problem many street machiners do: time.
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STREET MACHINE
“A five-year build came down to the last seven
weeks. I should have had this motor built a long time
ago but with work, a young son and trying to build a
car, I left it to the last minute.
“The goal was to build the car in three years, but
my wife Dina and I decided to start a family three
years ago. I wasn’t in a hurry to get the build done
as drag racing and street machining weren’t going
anywhere, so I just built the car and when it got close
I set myself a deadline.
“I’ve had the car back from paint for seven weeks
and I don’t think I’ve been to bed before 1am since.
I’ve had some help from good friends and I wouldn’t
have gotten here without them. I definitely want to be
at the Sydney APSA meeting in May. I love heads-up
Pro Street, Outlaw 10.5 and radial racing. I’m not
really a bracket racer.
“The plan is to run a 6.5-second pass in Outlaw
10.5, and 6.9 with my trusty 632 from LC4540,
but I’m not out to set the world on fire on the first
pass. It’ll probably take me three to four meets to get
comfortable in the car because I haven’t raced since
2009, when I won the Streetcar Superstars event.
“It’ll be a whole new learning curve, with the
nervous jitters you get when you get back into a
new car like this. I’m looking forward to it and I’m
keen to get back in by April or May this year.” s
Type: Brodix, 5in bore spacing
Capacity: 763ci
Crank: Callies
Pistons: Arias 15:1
Conrods: Bill Miller
Heads: Brodix 15-degree alloy
Valves: Titanium
Intake: Fabricated billet runners
Carburettors: Dominator 1250s
Cam: 60mm Bullet
Nitrous: Three-stage
SHIFT
Box: Two-speed Turbo 400
Driveshaft: Strange 3.5in moly
Diff: Strange full-floating 9.5in
BENEATH
Brakes: Strange discs (f & r)
Front: Chrome-moly K-member,
Strange struts, custom steering rack
Rear: Four-link, adjustable Strange
coil-overs
ROLL
Rims: Weld AlumaStar; 15x3.5 (f),
15x16 (r)
Rubber: M/T 24x5 (f), 33x15 (r)